A long time ago, I bought a cheap teach-yourself-calligraphy kit from a local drug store. I think it was on special and I was curious. It came with three different pens, lots of different coloured ink cartridges, it had really good step-by-step instructions, exactly what to do with your pen, how to hold it and explained everything in great detail.

All of which, I proceeded to completely ignore XD ... and did it my own way, reverse engineering all the letters by looking at the sample. This is how I cook too and it works out quite well... I just have a horrendous time sharing recipes... =}

I remember that I didn't like some of the letters and made up something different. I felt ripped off when the capitals were just bigger versions of the lowercase letters. That simply will'nt do, so I made nicer ones. It's a very simple beginner's Chancery style, so it wasn't too hard. I think I maybe did ¾ of the alphabet once and then went on to transcribe these four beautiful verses that kelliem wrote and shared with me... that I am now posting with permission from Kellie =)

It's all gloppy and full of boo-boos everywhere, you can tell by the way things don't quite meet up in places that I hadn't been doing it for very long at all. But it was loads of fun.

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When I first read it, I felt a tingling circle form at the top of my head. It expanded outward and moved down my body. Just past my shoulders, I think it disappeared. I briefly felt something in my stomach flutter. The tingling circle reappeared a moment later just above my knees and travelled down to my feet, then out my toes. It passed a very nice meditative calm through me.

Kellie is a very very talented writer. She has the most artful command of literary rhythm, balance, diction and structure, I have ever seen.